The head of Dubai Airports said today that the passenger terminal at Dubai World Central airport could start commercial operations next year.

Dubai World Central handled nearly 90m tonnes of freight in 2011.

“Operational trails for DWC’s passenger terminal are set to start during the second quarter of this year and we could see commercial passenger operations commence in 2013,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports.

Dubai Airports owns and manages the operation and development of both of Dubai’s airports – Dubai International as well as Dubai World Central.

Commenting on the growth of DWC’s cargo operations, which began in June 2010, Griffiths said the airport handled almost 90 million tonnes of freight during its first full calendar year of operations. DWC’s average monthly air cargo volumes in 2011 totalled 7,477 tonnes compared to 795 tonnes per month recorded during the airport’s first half year of operations in 2010. Cargo transit traffic comprised 32,989 tonnes or 37% of volume.

“Although the airport is in its infancy, incremental cargo traffic growth has been steady and continues to ramp up as new operations are launched,” Griffiths said.

He pointed out that DWC will play a key role in providing the capacity needed to accommodate projected growth in Dubai’s aviation sector.

“By 2015, cargo volumes will top three million tonnes, exceeding the current capacity of Dubai International. We expect a good proportion of that growth to spill over to Dubai World Central. As for passenger operations, Dubai International will continue to serve as the primary focus of expansion and we will be investing $7.8bn to boost capacity to 90 million passengers by 2018.”

A Dh1 billion (US$272.3 million) investment has been secured for Dubai World Central, the “aerotropolis” taking shape on the edge of Dubai.

DUBAI - JULY 1,2010 - Emirates airplane taxi on the run way of the Dubai World Central - Al Maktoum International airport. ( Paulo Vecina/The National )

The cash will pay for the first phase of development of the aviation district, designed to attract international businesses in aeronautical services and light manufacturing.

It will also pay for the relocation of the Dubai Airshow 2013 to the district from the existing site at Dubai International Airport. The move to a bigger site is likely to add thrust to the show’s growing international profile.

“Dubai World Central is an integral component of the strategic vision of Dubai Government to establish the emirate as an international aviation hub and a gateway to global markets,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation, the company in charge of developing the $33 billion Dubai World Central.

“The aviation district has been holistically conceived to capitalise on the dynamic aviation industry of the UAE and the region,” he said.

The aviation district, covering more than 6.8 square kilometres, will provide”land-side and air-side facilities” and will help to leverage the capacity of the new Al Maktoum International Airport, the company said. Officials hope the district will be able to capitalise on the strong growth in aviation in the region, the Indian subcontinent and China.

Close links to the nearby Jebel Ali Free Zone would help to cut “inter-modal” transport times. More info

Dubai World Central (DWC), the region’s first purpose-built aerotropolis, has presented on Sunday, November 13, 2011 the progress achieved since the last Dubai Airshow and showcased ongoing development being undertaken to establish a business platform for aviation and logistics companies.

Showcases progress achieved to date and presents plans to position Dubai as logistics and aviation hub.

DWC’s “40&beyond” campaign was also inaugurated by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, at the Dubai Airshow 2011. The campaign celebrates the UAE‘s 40th founding anniversary and depicting the visionary foresight of the founding fathers of the country.

The “40&beyond” tribute wall also demonstrates the strategic importance of Dubai World Central as the logical extension of the progress that Dubai has achieved over the past 40 years, while exemplifying the investment initiatives undertaken by Dubai to sustain the emirate’s prosperity and sustainable socioeconomic growth.

DWC is a purpose-built airport city that covers an area of 140 square kilometers. In addition to the Al Maktoum International Airport, which is being developed to be one of the world’s largest in volume and size, Logistics District and Office Park, DWC will also include residential, commercial and leisure districts upon completion.

Khalifa Al Zaffin, Executive Chairman, Dubai Aviation City Corporation, said: “Dubai World Central reinforces Dubai’s strategic advantage as an economic hub and a gateway to dynamic markets in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and across Asia. It serves as a one-stop destination for investors and businesses that are looking to benefit from a purpose-built aviation and logistics infrastructure, in addition to a complete range of business facilities. Moreover, DWC demonstrates the ingenuity and foresight of Dubai by presenting a fresh concept in urban planning that integrates services, aviation, residential and commercial amenities within a self-sustaining micro-city.”

“This year’s edition of Dubai Airshow will be the first time wherein we are organizing a major showcase of the Dubai World Central. The Airshow certainly serves as an ideal platform to demonstrate the unique features of DWC as the event is recognized as the region’s premier aerospace event gathering more than 50,000 international trade visitors and hundreds of exhibitors from all over the world,” said Rashed Buqara’a, Chief Operating Officer, Dubai Aviation City Corporation.

Dubai World Central is one of the most important and strategic projects launched by the Government of Dubai. It has been developed to meet the future needs of Dubai’s aviation, tourism, trade and logistics services and will ultimately be home to over 900,000 residents. More info

The Dubai Police have referred three Nigerian women air passengers, who were arrested on different days for allegedly possessing drugs, to the Public Prosecution.

The first woman arrived at the Dubai International Airport on July 24 on her way to Malaysia was arrested by the police for possessing heroin, a police source said.

Officers at the airport grew suspicious when they noticed that the 45-year-old woman was very weak and about to faint. She was rushed to Rashid Hospital. The X-ray scan showed capsules in her stomach. She excreted 100 capsules weighing 1.5kg during her stay in the hospital. The capsules contained heroin.  She told the police that a woman had given her $1,000 and asked her to carry the drugs.

Read more:  http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2011/July/theuae_July754.xml&section=theuae

Dubai International Airport handled an average of 135,700 passengers each day as the emirate’s aviation engine powered ahead in the first half of the year.

A record 24.6 million passengers passed through the world’s fourth-busiest airport for international passenger traffic during the period, compared with 22.6 million in the same period last year, as the airport’s biggest customers, Emirates Airline and flydubai, added flights, routes and aircraft.

The increase of 8.8 per cent keeps Dubai International on track to become the world’s busiest international air hub within four years, officials say. A US$7.8 billion (Dh28.64bn) expansion of Dubai International is planned to continue driving growth over this decade.

“Robust passenger traffic growth continues despite high fuel prices and growing economic uncertainty in Europe and the US,” said Paul Griffiths, the chief executive of Dubai Airports, which manages Dubai International and the new Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali. “This is being driven by the addition of new routes and frequencies.”

The first-half results, representing the busiest six months in the airport’s 50-year history, was achieved amid regional and international shocks – including political unrest in other parts of the region and the earthquake in Japan – that curtailed some air travel.

More than 200 new weekly flights were launched to 19 new destinations across Asia, Europe and Africa by airlines over the period. Dubai International serves more than 130 airlines flying to more than 220 destinations on six continents.

The airport’s figures for last month reveal a 10.4 per cent rise from the same period last year, to 4.07 million passengers.

The airport operator said India, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran provided the most inbound flights.

The world’s fastest-growing regions for passenger traffic during the first half of the year include Eastern Europe, with traffic rising 302.4 per cent, and the GCC, where volumes increased by 28.2 per cent.

Traffic to Russia and the former CIS states grew by 20.8 per cent, followed by North America (16.8 per cent), Asia-Pacific (13.2 per cent) and the Indian subcontinent (8.3 per cent).

Air cargo volumes remained flat, however, in the first half, with Dubai International processing 1.058 million tonnes compared with 1.055 million tonnes during the same period last year, an increase of 0.2 per cent.

Cargo activity began to rise, however, at the end of the latest period, with volumes growing 3.34 per cent to 183,365 tonnes.

London-based Virgin Atlantic will launch a second frequency to Dubai following the first delivery of its long awaited Dreamliner aircraft, the carrier’s CCO said Thursday

The carrier, which is 51 percent owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, said it had no plans to expand its only Middle East route outside of Dubai.

“We think absolutely that Dubai in the fullness of time will benefit from a second frequency,” Julie Southern told Arabian Business.

“The critical thing there will be getting the right size of aircraft and the 787s…will be key for us in terms of opening up some of those additional frequencies,” she said.

Virgin Atlantic has 20 of the delayed Boeing 787s on order, the first of which will start being delivered in 2014.

The carrier, the second biggest long-haul airline at London’s Heathrow Airport, said Dubai remained an important destination but ruled out further expansion in the region.

“If you look at the London end of the route versus the Dubai end of the route, we originate about 25 percent of our revenue of out of Dubai and 75 percent from the UK and that’s not true on all of the routes. This end of the market remains really important to us,” said Southern.

“This [Dubai] is such a central hub for the Gulf region that I think it’s mostly likely that if we do anything, it will be an additional frequency to serve this market rather than go to somewhere relatively close by and start a brand new route,” she said.

Virgin Atlantic expects to grow its business by seven percent this year and by 5-8 percent next year, said Southern.

“You’ll see that being a mix of brand new places and additional services on existing destinations,” she said.

The airline this month managed to avert the first strike in its 27-year history after it managed to agree a deal with a union representing its pilots.

It has been revealed by the United Arab Emirates’ leading airline Etihad that they are to offer new children’s activity kids on all flights over an hour and a half in length.

In a bid to keep youngsters entertained during flights the Abu Dhabi based airline will launch the kits in time for the summer holidays, helping families to enjoy their travels.

Available for all classes of travel, the new children’s packs will be decorated with Etihad’s own characters including Boo the Panda, Zoe the Bee, Kundai the Lion and Jamool the Camel. Inside, youngsters will discover noughts and crosses games, stickers, activity books, colour in finger puppets and sliding puzzle key rings. Meanwhile, on long haul flights such as those to New York, Toronto or Melbourne, extra gifts will be offered including Chess, Chinese Checkers, Draughts or Snakes and Ladders.

Talking of the new packs the vice president of guest experience for Etihad, Lee Shave, said “Travelling to new and exciting destinations is a special way for families to spend quality time together, but understandably, young children can get impatient with the journey time.” He added that with many airlines entertaining adults but not children “we designed these kids’ packs to be both entertaining and educational, ensuring that both parents and children are happy.”

Despite their current sizable orderbooks, the growth of leading Middle East airlines is likely to slow down gradually, according to a senior Boeing executive.

“What is happening is that the airlines in this region — especially the big three [Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways] — have been growing at a rate of about 20 per cent,” said Dr Fariba Al Amdari, Vice-President of Marketing and Value Analysis at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “And as we go in the future, they certainly will grow, but I don’t think that they can continue to grow at that rate. They are more likely to grow at an average of 10 per cent over the next 10 to 15 years rather than the 20 per cent that we have seen historically.”

On whether the capacity of regional airlines is in line with demand, Al Amdari said: “Overall, the capacity seems a lot, but the airlines are in a good position because they offer a really high-quality product at competitive prices.”

Market share

While regional carriers will “stimulate some demand”, they will [also] take away market share from European, Asian and some American airlines,” she added. “And that’s why some of the airlines in those markets are becoming a bit uptight about allowing their respective governments giving too much access to this region’s airlines, especially Emirates.”

Emirates is facing stiff opposition in Europe, Canada and Australia with their governments — threatened by its strong growth — denying the Dubai carrier more landing rights. “For other airlines to compete on products and prices [of Gulf carriers] is very hard,” said Al Amdari. “That’s why they just want to stop them from growing in their respective countries.”

The Dreamliner 787, Boeing’s long-haul aircraft, which appeared at last week’s Paris Air Show, will make its regional debut in Qatar Airways livery next February through a pair of Dreamliners.

“The 787 is a very different type of aeroplane; it’s a medium-sized plane with a long-range capability,” added Al Amdari.

“And it provides huge flexibility to airlines because you can deploy it on many routes… unlike the A380 which has to be long-haul and very dense. Besides, airports need to have the capability to receive it. That’s why the 787 is so popular, efficient and versatile.” Al Amdari said low-cost carriers “have the potential to grow here as we have seen the business model being successful in the US, Europe and Asia.

Making sense

“But there are some constraints. One is lack of liberalisation, or openness of the market, so they can’t operate to anywhere that they think commercially makes sense. They cannot do that as they have issues getting the bilateral rights to have access to other countries.” The other issue is airspace compatibility. “Although there has been a lot of investment in infrastructure development – approximately $45 billion (Dh165 billion) is committed over the three decades to the region’s airport projects — the airspace is not compatible with what’s been invested on the ground, in terms of capacity,” she said, adding that is because so much is “devoted to the military operations.”

On how these issues can be tackled, Al Amdari said: “One is the recognition that there is an issue.”

While global carriers are moving towards consolidation, the Middle East ones are not even looking in that direction.

Whether resisting consolidation posed a hindrance to growth, Al Amdari said: “If you look at the structure in the region, there are four types of business models: the big three airlines focused on connecting passengers; low-cost carriers at the far end; and two types in the middle — larger network carriers like Egypt Air, Saudi Arabian Airlines and medium-sized carriers such as Oman Air and Royal Jordanian. “I don’t see many alliances or mergers happening at the top. In the middle [segment], it’s very likely because it’s not a very comfortable position as bigger airlines can eat into your market share.”

Emirates Airline has announced that it is launching services to Baghdad, joining a growing list of carriers that are gradually adding more flights to Iraq as the country’s economic and security situation improves.

For the past two decades the commercial aviation sector in Iraq has been crippled by security fears, lack of infrastructure, and UN Security Council ‘no fly zone’ restrictions that were imposed following the country’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. However, the country is slowly seeing improvements in its security situation and infrastructure, thus creating an emerging market that many international carriers are keen to tap.

With one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, Iraq is also benefitting from oil prices that have soared above $100 this year. The International Monetary Fund estimates that higher oil revenues will help Iraq’s economy grow 11.5% in 2011, up from 2.6% last year.

The country also sees the aviation sector as a key driver of economic growth, and has ambitious plans to rebuild and expand its aviation infrastructure. However, the government’s proposed expansion of Baghdad airport has faced delays due to the lack of private investment needed to help fund the project.

Better progress on the country’s aviation infrastructure has been made in the northern province of Kurdistan, where the new $450m Irbil International airport was opened in September 2010. The new airport can handle three million passengers a year and boasts the fifth largest runway in the world.

Emirates launches service to Baghdad

As Iraq’s economy, security, and infrastructure has improved, a growing number of regional and international airlines have launched flights to and from the country. Last week Emirates became the latest airline to announce that it will fly to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, with four-times-a-week service commencing on November 13th.

“Baghdad is a strategically important destination for Emirates,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group. “Its geographical location, coupled with the fact that few international carriers operate there, makes it the perfect destination for us to tap into and drive revenue from. With more than five million residents in Baghdad, and its surrounding districts, this new service will provide them with direct access to our vast global network.”

Emirates began flying to the southern oil port town of Basra last year and was scheduled to launch flights to Baghdad at the same time before delaying the plans “due to operational reasons”.

The airline expects the passenger mix travelling in and out of Baghdad to come from a variety of sources, with a significant skew towards industry and government personnel. The construction, telecommunications and oil sectors are expected to make up three of the largest industry segments. Iraqi nationals, both in Baghdad and residing outside of Iraq are also expected to be strong users of this new service.

Egypt Air resumes service to Iraq

Cairo-headquartered EgyptAir also said last week that it will resume flights to Iraq after a 21-year absence. Hussein Massoud, chairman of the EgyptAir holding company, said that starting July 15, there will be seven weekly flights to Iraq — four to Baghdad and three to Irbil in Kurdistan.

“Egypt and Iraq are linked together with commercial and cultural ties [and] Iraq represents a fertile market for the Egyptian investments,” he said.

EgyptAir and Emirates will join other regional carriers such as Etihad Airways, Royal Jordanian and Turkish Airlines which fly to the Iraqi capital. Etihad has said that demand for its Baghdad route has been strong since the service was launched last year, with flights more than 70% full.

Austrian Airlines is first Western carrier to return

Middle East carriers are not the only airlines that are keen to enter Baghdad. Earlier this month, Austrian Airlines became the first major Western carrier to resume regular flights to the Iraqi capital since the first Gulf War in 1990.

The airline, which began flying to Baghdad in 1982, was one of the first European carriers to resume links to Iraq following the second Gulf War, inaugurating flights between Vienna and Irbil in 2006. Lufthansa has also resumed flights to Irbil.

Other European carriers such Lufthansa and BMI have expressed interest in flying to Baghdad but have yet to do so. France’s Aigle Azur flew to the Iraqi capital last fall on an inaugural flight carrying French officials. The ceremonial flight was supposed to be followed by regularly-scheduled flights this year between Paris and Baghdad, but this was postponed for security reasons.